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The Essentials of Spiritual Warfare
The Invisible War (2) “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 (NIV)
I do not know of any other verse in scripture that so beautifully summarises all that is involved in effective spiritual warfare like the above scripture does.
The first and most important step in winning the invisible war is not in addressing the devil but in submitting to God. I have seen many people who claim to be involved in spiritual warfare but whose lives are not submitted to God. They know how to fast and they say they pray but they are still gossips, unforgiving and rebellious. Such “intercessors” may walk around with an air of spirituality but their prayers are not doing anything to push back the darkness or establish God’s kingdom.
You see the whole essence of spiritual warfare is that we are enforcing the authority of Jesus by taking ground from the enemy and thereby establishing God’s kingdom. But it is only those in whose lives the rule of God has been established – those who have submitted their lives to him and are living in obedience to him, that can enforce and establish his rule elsewhere.
Spiritual warfare is not so much in how we shout or jump or know the right words to say, as much as it has to do with our walk with the Lord. A right walk with the Lord is the first step to effective warfare. Remember those seven sons of Sceva? (Acts 19:14-16). They tried casting out devils using the right words but it carried no weight with the spirits because their lives were not submitted to God.
Before we rush off to bind and loose, let us submit all our sins, and fears (it is counter-productive to try resisting the enemy out of fear), and cares, and let us receive God’s holiness and grace. Let us submit to God in repentance, and in praise and adoration. And then from that point we can resist the devil.
It is when we submit our lives to God that we will be effective as we resist the devil. There is nothing that the devil fears like the prayer of a holy man or woman. It’s like coals of fire being poured out on him, so he flees.
Let us pray: Father it’s useless attempting to subdue the enemy if I am not submitted to you. Lord, I come to yield my life to you. Lord is there any part of my life that is not yet submitted to you? Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to you. Reign in me Lord so that I may be able to enforce your reign in Jesus’ Name!
FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: Matthew 5: 23-26; 6:16-18; 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6 (consider the implication of verse 6, ‘once your obedience is complete’); Joshua 7: 10-12; Acts 19:14-16; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5: 6-9
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The Invisible War (Part 1)
“In my name they will drive out demons” Mark 16: 17 (NIV)
Beloved,
Six years ago, I posted a series of 6 articles on the subject of spiritual warfare. The past four weeks have been some of the most spiritually intense for me. Beginning this week we will be revisiting this important issue. These articles with come with scriptural references for further personal study. Please join me as I study these truths again and please pray that these articles will be used of God once again to equip all of us to walk victoriously in this invisible war. And I’d love your feedbacks too ~ Chim
It is difficult to talk about spiritual warfare without stepping on someone’s toes. This is one of those controversial issues that has left the body of Christ divided into all sorts of camps with all kinds of labels. But no matter to which camp we belong, the truth still remains that we are at war! And our enemy the devil is not moved by our labels. The only thing that he dreads is those who know enough of their authority in Christ to deal with him.
There are those who would have us believe the devil is to be ignored. They say we should only talk of our Lord and all will be well. But Satan will not ignore us just because we ignore him. The truth is that he is working a lot of havoc in many lives and homes today just because he is being ignored. Some of us are overwhelmed right now wondering why God has not acted on our behalf, whereas we should be taking our stand and resisting the enemy. God will not do for us what he has given us authority to do.
Jesus did not ignore the devil. The gospel is filled with his frequent encounters with demons and evil spirits. Jesus cast out devils and so must we who seek to be like him. Do we know how to bind and loose? Do we know about casting down strongholds and every imagination that exalts itself above the knowledge of God? Jesus said, “In my name, they (we) shall cast out demons”.
Paul said, “We are not unaware of his (Satan’s) schemes”, and the devil will outwit us if we remain ignorant. Yet being aware of our enemy is not the same as over-emphasising him. There are those who are more conscious of the devil than they are of Christ; more alert to fallen angels than they are of the mighty host of God’s angels that encamps around all those who fear him. These are people who see demons in everything. I really get upset about this extremism because it takes the eyes of God’s people off the Lord. They get so impressed about all the demon stuff that their chief pursuit is no longer to know Jesus.
Our focus must be on the Lord, but we must not be ignorant of the devil’s devices. Effective spiritual warfare flows out of a right relationship with the Lord. It is as we walk closely with him that he will help us to discern when the enemy is at work so that we can deal with him in Jesus’ name.
Let us pray: O Lord of hosts, I know we have an adversary who hates and opposes your rule, but I also know that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. Thank you Lord, because through Christ’s victory at Calvary, I have overcome him, and now greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. But Lord, you call me to enforce this victory here and now so please teach my hands to war and my fingers to fight. Teach me to walk in increasing intimacy with you so that I might exercise discernment. Lord, right now I come against the devil in every point where he is at work in my life, my family, or my surroundings (be specific) and I resist him in Jesus’ name!
FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Peter 5: 8-9; Luke 10: 17-20
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A life without distraction
“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody.” – Psalm 57:7 (ESV)
What do we perceive the victorious life to be? Only a few of us will ever imagine it as a life free from troubles, but some may feel it is a life that has all the answers. We look at some spiritual leader we respect and we believe he has it all together. ‘He understands why things occur that happen to him’; ‘he must be in tune with God and so God explains everything to him’, we think. So when we face situations that don’t make sense, we conclude that either we are not spiritual enough or maybe God doesn’t like us too much.
The victorious life is not a life without questions. It is a life without distraction. When it comes to faith, Paul was a giant. Place him beside any of the heroes of faith in Hebrew 11 and he will dwarf them. He lived for God and lived out God. He walked in the purposes of God for his life. But was his life without unanswered questions? No! No! No! He had many of them, yet he never allowed them to distract him from moving on with God into all that God had for him!
Many times in life we face things that just seem to make it difficult to move on. The bible tells us of Abram’s father Tehrah in Genesis 11:27-32. He had three sons Abram, Nahor and Haran. But one-day tragedy struck and Haran died in his presence. The loss of a loved one or other deep tragedy can so devastate us and rob us of the strength to press on. We ask, ‘Why did God allow this?’
When Jacob thought his beloved son Joseph had died, he refused to be comforted and said ‘I will go down to my grave mourning’. He lived on, but he could not move on beyond that tragedy. And this is what we see in the case of Tehrah. The bible says in Genesis 11:31 that a time came when Tehrah set out to go to Canaan (the Promised Land). I believe that it was God who put this pull towards destiny in Tehrah ’s heart just like he would later do to Abram. God was not finished with Tehrah in spite of what he had gone through. He wanted him to press on into his place for him. But though Tehrah started the journey the bible says that when he came to a city called Haran, (a place that reminded him of his son, his tragic death and all the unresolved questions that still remained) he couldn’t move on and so he settled in Haran. And the Bible says, “And Terah died in Haran” (v.32). It is not God’s will that we allow anything, no matter how tragic, to so distract us as to make us choose to settle down in transit and not press on into God’s promised land for us. God may not answer all our questions on this side of eternity, but he calls us to trust him and journey on with him.
The victorious life is a life focused on entering into all that God has for us despite all that we may face. Those who have lived victoriously have not pressed on because they had everything sorted out, but because they have handed the unanswered questions of life over to God. Paul puts it like this:
‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ ~ Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
He was saying ‘Listen brothers, I don’t have it all together yet. But here is one thing I do: I forget those things that are behind (the troubles, the triumphs, and the unanswered questions), I hand them over to my Lord, and I focus on pressing on to take hold of the reason for which God has called me and for which Christ has taken hold of me’.
There is a reason why Christ took hold of you and me. And there is a place to which he is taking us. There is something he wants to accomplish with our lives. Like Abram and his father there is a land he is taking us to. Let us not allow anything to distract us from pressing on into that land. Let us be determined to be all that he has called us to be. That is what the victorious life is – a life without distraction. A life focused on following Jesus, come what may!
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Our God Is Rich In Mercy
“The Lord is merciful and gracious; he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. read more
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DIMEP impact Churches & Campuses
Our Discipleship & Missions Exposure Programme (DIMEP) has been doing exceptionally well read more
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Miracle opens door in Muslim village
God continues to move in power – doing miracles and saving souls as our team continues to reach out to more Muslim villages.
One such example is the story of Kapita village among the Yao people in Malawiwhere one of our colleagues stopped to ask for water to drink on his way to another village. Like the story of Jesus by the well (John 4), he drank their water and gave them the Living Water. He happened to enter the house of the chief of the village whose daughter was demon possessed. This lady, Magratte, though only in her late 20s, looked like a woman in her 80s. She had lived for many years under 24/7 of demonic torture, so that she could not bear to look at daylight. She couldn’t stop eating, and was visited every night by demons who tormented her by beating her. When Bro. Keyasoni (our team member) prayed a prayer of faith, Magratte was healed, and the entire chief’s family and another 16 people, all Muslims, turned to Christ. Now a Bible class is being held every Thursday in the chief’s compound.
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Change of Leadership
The two pioneer leaders of our ministry recently handed over leadership. read more
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Valley of a 1,000 Outreach changing young lives
The educational outreach we launched in the Zulu homeland of the Valley of a 1,000 Hills has been bearing very encouraging fruits.
The Valley Education Thrust (VET) is an initiative to provide supplementary educational input for students in high schools in the Valley, so as to afford them a better chance in their matric exam.
Our three volunteer teachers are graduates from various places and have been used by God to impact many lives both within and outside the classrooms. Providing several hours of supplementary classes as well as helping with the regular classes, we have seen a marked improvement in the student’s performance in Maths and English.
Apart from their academics, we have been encouraged to see God transform some of these young lives. Several have given their lives to Christ and, at times, in very dramatic circumstances. One day during the course of school two girls possessed by demons began to manifest in class. As expected, this caused a commotion. Our volunteers intervened and rebuked the demons. One of the girls was delivered from the demonic possession and got saved. The other was not ready to give her life to Christ.
Not only is VET impacting the high school students, it is also helping to disciple and equip the volunteers in their walk with, and service for, God. Our desire is that some of these volunteers will eventually become missionaries. According to Ayanda Tyumdu, one of our VET volunteers, ‘God is truly at work here’
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Welcome to the CAPRO SA e-newsletter
The other day while counselling with a lady attending our DIMEP training, she shared how a leaders conference we had a year before had been a life-changer for her. Her testimony not only encouraged me, but renewed my commitment to help many more. Though I knew God had worked in that meeting I hadn’t realised it was this deep.
There are two lessons I see from this incident. Firstly, how mistaken we can be to think just because we cannot see what is happening that God is not at work. You may be in that place right now where you have put in so much and you are asking yourself ‘Is it worth it?’. Well, let me tell you: If you are doing what God has called you to do in the way you know He wants it, then it is worth it. And be assured of this: He is at work even when you cannot see him.
Secondly, how important it is that we get some feedback. It is important that we share the testimonies of what God has done. Think of the encouragement this can bring. Think of how this can strengthen the hands of those who are committed. This is why we are excited to finally begin this CAPRO SA monthly e-newsletter! We want to use this means to keep you updated with all God is doing among us because of your praying and giving.
We trust that these updates will encourage and challenge you in your walk with the Lord as well as strengthen you in your commitment to partner with us in CAPRO to reach the remaining unreached peoples of Africa and beyond.
We appreciate you!
May all the nations praise Him,
Chim
For CAPRO Missions SA